Ear ornament



Feb. 16, 1954 R. M. RONSTADT 2,669,102

EAR ORNAMENT Filed Feb. 6, 1955 INVENTOR.

ear Man #0; 7 90 7' Patented Feb. 16,1954

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EAR ORNAMENT Ruth Mary Ronstadt, Tucson, Ariz.

ApplicationFebruary 6, 1953, Serial No. 335,414

This invention relates to an ear ornament.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved earring or ornament of extremely simple. and inexpensive construction which is applicable to the ear lobe and retains its position in an improved manner with greater comfort to the wearer and with perfect freedom from accidental removal.

Earrings as heretofore constructed have utilized either a spring biased clip maintaining frictional contact with the ear lobe or have utilized various screw compresses by which a tension could be maintained between the members in contact with the inner and outer faces of the ear lobe. Ear rings of this type invariably produce a localized pressure on the ear lobe which produces an uncomfortable sensation to the wearer to the extent sometimes of actually being quite painful. I I have discovered that by utilizing a construction of dead soft metal wire arranged with multiple flat convolutions upon both inner and outer lobe surfaces that an earring of pleasing appearance and great comfort and security may be produced.

' In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view showing the earring of the present invention in place upon the ear of a wearer.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the earring.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view of the earring in the flat prior to bending it for placement upon the ear.

The earring comprises two preferably spiral scrolls l9 and I2, the turns of which are normally in common parallel planes. The scrolls may be of triangular, square or other ornamental shape so long as they provide a plurality of wound convolutions. I prefer to form the earring from a single piece of dead soft wire in which the two spiral pads l and I2 are joined by a U-shaped connector M. It will be understood, of course, that if desired the scroll pads may be formed separately and the connector l4 soldered thereto. When the earring is formed from a single strand of wire it will take the form shown in Fig. l in which the end portions of the wire form the spiral pads Ill and I2, and a central portion of the wire forms the connecting portion 84 of the earring.

The earring is worn as illustrated in Fig. 1 with the scroll pad ID on the outside of the lobe and the connector l4 preferably passing to the rear of the ear lobe rather than extending downwardly as usual. The other scroll l2 lies against the inner surface of the ear lobe. When the V 4Clai ms. (01.63-14) earring is in place as illustrated, it may then be squeezed between the thumb and forefinger and, due to the dead soft nature of the wire, will retain its position in firm contact with the ear lobe surfaces. The lobe is, of course, squeezed to some extent in this operation, but when released the fiesh expands and contacts the scrolls tightly. The location of the connector I4 extending horizontally also assists in retaining the earring in place particularly Where the ear lobe has an enlarged lower portion when viewed from the side. Thus, the present invention provides an attractive ornament of exceedingly simple construction. It is, furthermore, very comfortable to the wearer and has been found particularly free from liability of accidentally falling off.

One advantage of the construction resides in the flexible nature of the scrolls i0 and i2 which may be pressed to conform to the contour of the inner and outer ear lobe surfaces. Thus, referring to Fig. 3, it will be observed that the convolu tions forming the outer spiral pad it are flexed into concave shape to correspond with the surface contour of the ear lobe at this area. Likewise, the convolutions forming the inner pad 12 conform to the contour of the inner side of the ear lobe. The pads l0 and I2 engage the inner and outer surfaces of the ear lobe securely but apply no appreciable pressure on the ear of which the wearer is conscious. This feature results from forming the ear pads from convolutions of dead soft wire so that the ear pads are readily flexible in a direction normal to the plane thereof. It will be appreciated, of course, that in order to obtain the necessary frictional holding power the pads l0 and I2 must provide sufficient area to securely engage the ear lobe of the wearer. At the same time the wire from which the earring is made must be of a diameter such that it will flex readily in response to the squeezing action of the fingers when the earring is placed on the ear.

I have found that satisfactory results are obtained when the surface covered by each of the ear pads l0 and I2 is at least twenty times the cross sectional area of the wire from which the earring is formed. This provides the necessary flexibility for the connecting portion It as well as for the individual convolutions of the pads it and I2 and at the same time provides sufficient area for each of the pads to securely engage the cooperating surface of the ear lobe. An earring constructed as described causes the contact pressure to be spread over a relatively wide area. This produces a firm engagement of the earring with the ear lobe and the utmost of comfort. Earrings of this invention are so comfortable that the wearer is often unconscious of the fact that she is wearing the earrings. It may be said that these earrings fit the wearers cars like an old shoe. The design is adaptable, of course, to additional ornamentation by the application of jewels or metallic plaques to the outer scroll l0. Where ornaments are added, it is preferred to attach them at the center of the scroll so as to interfere the least with the flexing action of the individual convolutions when the earrings are squeezed into place on the ear.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior copending application Serial No. 703,240, filed October 14, 1946.

I claim:

1. An ear ornament comprising a pair of fiat pads each formed of a single length of wire wound into a series of closely spaced convolutions, said pads being connected by a dead soft metal wire, said connecting wire being secured to the outer most convolution of each pad, said convolutions being individually flexible in a direction normal to the plane of said pads whereby to conform to the contour of the wearers ear lobe when said connecting wire is bent into U shape and the pads are pressed against the inner and outer faces of the ear lobe, said wire and pads being dimensioned such that the contacting surface area between each pad and the respective surfaces of the ear lobe is at least twenty times the cross sectional area of said connecting wire and said convolutions forming a corrugated ear engaging surface.

2. An earring as set forth in claim 1 wherein said pads and connecting wire are formed from a single length of wire.

3. An earring as set forth in claim 1 wherein the convolutions of said pads define spiral scrolls.

4. An earring comprising a pair of generally flat, ornamental pads each defined by a plurality of adjacently wound convolutions and a wire extending from the outer convolution of one pad to the outer convolution of the other pad and connecting said pads together, said pads and said connecting wire being formed of a dead soft metal whereby said connecting wire may be readily bent into U shape so that the pads may be pressed against the inner and outer surfaces of an ear lobe, said pads defining generally continuous surfaces so that when placed against the ear lobe substantially the entire area within the periphery of the pad makes effective frictional contact with the ear lobe, said pads being dimensioned such that the area of contact between each pad and the respective surface of the ear lobe is at least twenty times the cross sectional area of said connecting wire said convolutions being individually and readily distortable in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said pads so that when said pads are pressed against opposite faces of the ear lobe they conform to the surface contour of the ear lobe and remain in such distorted condition and said convolutions forming a corrugated ear engaging surface.

RUTH MARY RONS'IADT.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 203,176 Knight Apr. 30, 1878 245,464 Eby Aug. 9, 1881 869,965 Farnham Nov. 5, 1907 1,086,258 Wilson Feb. 3, 1914 1,577,949 Butler Mar. 23, 1926 1,684,783 Spear Sept. 18, 1928 2,383,448 Christy Aug. 28, 1945 

